Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab

Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab is an open-access digital media laboratory with extensive experience since 1994 in connecting new media technologies and artistic projects as well as encouraging broader, savvier, and more creative uses of new technologies.

One of the recent art projects of Ljudmila, developed in cooperation with V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media (Rotterdam) and plenty of other supporters and funders, is the project Frida V. (Free Ride Data Acquisition Vehicle) – the work of new media artist and programmer Luka Frelih.

In 2011 the City Art Gallery Ljubljana organised a retrospective exhibition Powered by Ljudmila, which comprised several interviews with the principal Ljudmila cofounders, associates, and collaborators and a line of documents testifying to seventeen years of events, projects, and actions, and its interaction in Slovenia and internationally.

Background and mission

Ljudmila - Ljubljana Digital Media Lab was initiated in 1994 by a group of new media artists and activists living and working in Ljubljana (including Vuk Ćosić and Marko Peljhan) within the new media programme at the Open Society Institute – Slovenia. It was led by Mitja Doma, Amra Bakšić (1997–1998) and by Špela Kučan (1999–2009). Since 2000 Ljudmila has operated in the framework of KUD France Prešeren.

Today Ljudmila is a well-equipped digital media lab that focuses on digital production as well as education, research and development of hardware and software. It also provides knowledge, equipment, Internet access, server space, electronic publishing and other affordable networking services to non-governmental and non-profit organisations, art collectives, active individuals, and others.

In 2004, for its work as the Slovene epicentre of digital creation for group projects and autonomous artists and researchers, Ljudmila was bestowed the Golden Bird Award for the section of new media.

Ljudmila Music Video 1 by Vasja Omladinac by Ljudmila on Vimeo

Projects

Frida V. (Free Ride Data Acquisition Vehicle) conceived by Luka Frelih is a free, mapping interface for bicycles that he first built for DEAF 2004 and has since been developing further. The rugged and comfortable bicycle equipped for efficient exploration and mapping of public urban spaces that carries a small computer, a GPS positioning device, an 802.11 wireless network transceiver, and a basic audiovisual recording unit, has been realised and presented in numerous cities all over the world: Ljubljana, Rotterdam, New York, Munich, Bergen, Beijing, etc. In 2009 a new all-in-1 Frida Box prototype series was developed, built, and test-ridden in Paris, France. In the beginning of 2010, Frida V. was exhibited within the exhibition Three Electromagnetic Habitats in the KiBela Art Space, together with the Pufination project of Frelih and Robertina Šebjanič, developed under the support of Ljudmila and later shown also at at the Linuxwochen in Linz. The project was presented also at the Tactics and Practice: New Media Drivers pilot seminar for new media arts produced by Aksioma Institute in Ljubljana in June 2010.

Cooperation

Ljudmila has cooperated with several artists in finding the best technological solution for their exhibitions or performances. One of the most complex work was accomplished for the two Slovenian project that were presented at the 50th Venice International Biennale of Art in 2003: Žiga Kariž's TERROR=DECOR: ART NOW at the A+A Gallery (Slovenian Pavilion) and the Macrolab project by Projekt Atol Institute, set on the Island of Campalto in Venice lagoon and at the Corderie, within the Individual Systems.

Software and online platforms

In 2003 Ljudmila released Slix, the Linux operating system running live from CD media in Slovenian language. It develops also a Web DataBase Interface (WDBI), compatible with their MediaWiki Improvement project.

During 2001-2006 Ljudmila ran Ljudmilin Informator, a community-based information platform and then started to develop Kulturnik.si, a nationwide aggregator of cultural events (in the frame of M3C Multimedia Centres Network of Slovenia). Since 2009 Ljudmila develops and hosts also the portal for international cooperation Culture.si, produced by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, which offers information on Slovene cultural producers, venues, festivals, and support services, all in one place.

Education

Ljudmila organises regular workshops in basic and advanced use of open source software (Blender, Pure Data, MediaWiki), as well as the Free Circuit workshops and Digital Dish public lectures and artist talks by international new media artists. The Prosto-vezje programme in general engages in the experimental ("circuit bending", "tinkering" and "kits") development and making of the electronic circuit hacks based on the free software. The participants are encouraged to develop further uses and include the findings in their artistic work.

Artist-in-residence programme

In the context of its Prosto-vezje [Free Circuit] programme Ljudmila occasionally hosts a resident artist working with new media. One of the first residents was Teresa Almeida from Portugal who presented the interactive Space Dress and Yuga accessories in 2006. The residency in 2009 was produced by Ljudmila and the MoTA Museum of Transitory Art run by CodeEp. Nedine Kachornnamsong (Thailand/Sweden) conducted a research-in-practice with a focus on social interaction, spatial conditions, and tangibility. Recently she has been working on questions related to the possible integration of online representation and experience into a physical environment. During the residency she gave a Digital dish lecture entitled Monitor and Display: An Image of the Ghost in the Machine at Ljudmila, while her Yes/No/Maybe interactive installation and experimental social event (transforming online dating elements into a physical setting) took place at Ljubljana's Museum of Modern Art. Rob Canning, a composer and sound artist, a member of the GOTO10 collective, presented his projects at the EarZoom Sonic Arts Festival during his Ljudmila residency in October 2010.

In 2011 Ljudmila´s artist-in-residence was Chris Sugrue, an artist and programmer who investigates topics such as artificial life, eye-tracking and optical illusions. In Ljubljana she has developed a project BASE 8, a system that examines the negative spaces between fingers and the motion of hands and arms. It was presented in KIBLA Multimedia Centre, Maribor, and netclub MaMa, Zagreb (Croatia).

Networking

Ljudmila operates through KUD France Prešeren Arts and Culture Association and was a member of the European Cultural Backbone (ECB) initiative and the regional media centres A.Network (together with mama in Zagreb, pro.ba in Sarajevo, and kuda.org in Novi Sad). In 2004 it became a founding member of the M3C Multimedia Centres Network of Slovenia. From 2005 to 2010 it acted also as a public lead for the project Creative Commons Slovenia and was a member of the international networks Creative Commons and Communia. In 2011 this role was passed to the newly established Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory.

External links

Related reading

Andreas Broeckmann: Reflections on Building the European Cultural Backbone, essay on the nonstop-future.org website

Gallery

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